Huntley High School Marching Band celebrates the most successful season in its history
Kevin Krivosik The HHS Marching Band has placed first in multiple competitions this year.
HUNTLEY — It is no surprise that Huntley High School’s Marching Band Director Kevin Krivosik has nothing but high praises for the hard-working band students committed to their performances.
The band, which competes in the 2A category at competitions, has been able to place first at every competition they have attended so far.
This includes the Lake Park Lancer Joust and Victor J. Andrew Marching Band Invitational to being named the Grand Champion of their most recent competition at the Prospect High School Knight of Champions, according to Krivosik.
“The students have also consistently received first place in Music Performance, Visual Performance, General Effect, Percussion, and Color Guard for their class, as well,” he added.
Recently, the band had been in preparation to compete at the Bands of America competition in St. Louis, Missouri, which Krivosik said wasn’t without its challenges.
“There’re challenges with the weather and we cannot be outside, and challenges finding space to rehearse when there are sporting events happening at the high school,” he said via email correspondence. “One of the challenges we have faced most during this season is issues with our equipment, specifically our electronic equipment. This gear was purchased before I started at the HHS full-time in 2018 so it is a little outdated. However, the students and my staff have done EXCELLENT work on being flexible with all of these challenges to ensure that we have efficient and quality rehearsals.”
With the Bands of America only having 14 out of 62 bands making it to the finals, members of the HHS Marching Band need to have structured rehearsals in preparation for tough competitions.
“Before each rehearsal, I always post a schedule on our communication app so that everyone can get a sense of what the three-hour rehearsal will be like,” said Krivosik. “During our full ensemble rehearsals, there is always repetition to ensure consistency within the ensemble. The students may [repeat] a chunk of our show for at least 15-20 minutes before my staff and I decide it is time to move on. It may get tedious at times, but there is a process that we follow to ensure the band is consistent at what they do.”
Krivosik states that each piece the band performs takes his Design Team about a year to create, also adding that he keeps a playlist running of pieces they would like to incorporate for future marching band shows.
“Our program designer always has ideas on what he envisions on the field and the music behind it. We go through questions like, ‘What kind of story do we want to tell,’ and ‘I have these songs that could work well together, what words or images do we envision when we hear these songs?’ We also need to consider what judges would like to see [and] hear and what audience members would like to see [and] hear. Most importantly, we want to program something that the students will be committed to performing,” explained Krivosik.
Krivosik’s biggest goal when it comes to the HHS Marching Band is to continue to watch the program grow, while also attempting to get as many students involved in the band as possible.
“The pandemic severely affected the music programs in our school district. Our class sizes have decreased significantly, so we are trying to rebuild as much as possible,” said Krivosik.
Despite some challenges, Krivosik hopes graduating students that were in the band leave with, “all of the unwritten rules of being in marching band.” This includes having hopefully built time management skills, having patience when working with others, and continuing to advocate for the arts.
Seeing as the band has had its most successful season in its history, Krivosik explained that students are motivated now more than ever to stay on task while at rehearsals, however, other staff members are always on-site to give feedback to students.
As for other successes the band has under its belt, Krivosik explained, “The Wind Ensemble is one of the top performing concert bands in the state of Illinois. In 2018, 2019, and 2022, the Wind Ensemble was selected by audition to participate at the Illinois SuperState Concert Band Festival at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This is the highest regarded band festival within the state of Illinois.”
He continued, “The students here are working tirelessly to ensure they get the results they want, and that is to be the best musicians and the best people that they can be.”
Krivosik, who has an extensive background in music, is always striving to take the marching band to the “next level.”
Additionally, he also hopes to double the band’s fundraising earnings seeing as it can get quite expensive to run a band program as successful as the one at HHS.
Krivosik is grateful for the work the Booster parent organization has done in getting the band a solid foundation with fundraising after the pandemic and hopes that the community continues to support students and the program.
“If you wish to sponsor us, let us know. We will gladly put your logo on our newly designed trailer,” he said.
Individuals interested in making a donation to the band program or wanting to assist can send an email to the HHS Marching Band Booster President at [email protected].
The HHS Marching Band will have its last competition of the 2022 season at the Illinois State University Marching Band Championships, where Krivosik states that only 14 out of 42 bands throughout the state make it to the finals.
